Grammy nominated rapper Afroman returns home to Mississippi for a night of fun. Mississippi native Joseph Foreman, known in the music world as Afroman, will perform live Wednesday night at Rick’s Cafe. Showtime is at 10 p.m., with the doors opening at 7 p.m.
No stranger to Rick’s, Foreman returns as a bigger star than he was when he played there last spring. Foreman has had an incredibly successful year. “Because I Got High,” his first major-label debut album under Universal Records, sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide, yielding a Grammy nomination. The album also debuted at No. 1 on the United Kingdom charts and hit No. 1 in New Zealand, Germany, Ireland, Denmark, Norway and Australia.
Foreman started out musically in the church in the choir and playing various instruments.
“I learned how to play guitar in church, and then, I kind of put it in the closet Ocause I was so in love with rap music. I thought the purpose of rap music was to show how music could be performed without a band, and if you use a band you defeat the purpose, so I threw my guitar in the closet on that note,” Foreman said in an interview with The Reflector last April.
He combines his love of rap with funky bass lines, drums, keyboard and lyrical content.
Drummer Jody Stallone, keyboardist/bassist Daryle Havard and Foreman set out to give rap a whole new meaning, making them the “it” band of the hip-hop world.
Universal took notice of Foreman’s talent in his first two albums, “Sell Your Dope” and “Because I Got High” and signed him without hesitation.
“People would try and make me into the Hot Boys or Vanilla Ice or whoever else was hot at the time and wouldn’t take me for who I was,” Foreman said in an on-line magazine interview.
“That’s when I realized I needed to blaze my own trail, and Universal didn’t want to screw with me, they liked it like it was, and that was cool with me,” Foreman said.
Nine of 10 college students asked about a live performance of Afroman, agreed that his lyrics are what makes him entertaining.
“I saw him at the Sigma Phi Epsilon house, and he brought the biggest crowd there I;ve ever seen,” student Margaret Buell said. “Even though he’s kind of vulgar, I still think he’s fun to listen to.”
In a Larry King interview about “Because I Got High” on the “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” soundtrack, Foreman told King that he does not advocate getting high but just having a good time and enjoying life.
“I figure like this-don’t get mad at me talking about, you know, getting high.” Foreman said to The Reflector.
“Listen at the rap tape next to me; he’s talking about killing somebody. You need to talk to him; he has problems. This man wants to take a life, and I want someone to enjoy it. I’m your friend,” Foreman said.
Rick’s Cafe owner Rick Welch said he is really excited about the show and expects the crowd to be outstanding because Starkville is one of Afroman’s biggest fan bases in Mississippi.
“I think it’s really cool that in his remake of ‘Mississippi; under Universal, he mentions both Dave’s Dark Horse Tavern and Rick’s Cafe in his lyrics,” Welch said.